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A12 WORLD NEWS
Tuesday 2 april 2019
Venezuelan judge moves to strip opposition leader’s immunity

By SCOTT SMITH provided no further details.
Associated Press Office worker Raquel May-
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) orca said she didn’t know if
— Venezuela’s chief justice her lights were off because
on Monday asked lawmak- of another power failure —
ers to strip opposition lead- or whether it was part of
er Juan Guaido of immu- the government’s plan.
nity, taking a step toward “We are worse off now
prosecuting him for alleged more than ever,” she said,
crimes as he seeks to oust adding that the power
President Nicolas Maduro. was out on one side of the
Supreme Court Justice Mai- street, but working on the
kel Moreno said Guaido other. “We do not know if
should be prosecuted for the light went out due to a
violating a ban on leaving blackout, or whether they
the country when he went took it away because of
on a tour of Latin Ameri- the rationing.”
can nations that back a As the lack of electricity
change in Venezuela’s became the latest sticking
government. point in an ongoing po-
The opposition leader, who litical standoff, however,
has immunity from prosecu- Juan Guaido, Venezuelan opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president, attends a many Venezuelans simply
tion as head of the National meeting at a university in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, April 1, 2019. found themselves wonder-
Assembly, is also accused Associated Press ing what the newly an-
by Maduro’s government glect by the government nation has experienced phone calls or access the nounced rationing plan
of inciting violence linked has left the grid in shambles near-daily blackouts and internet. Millions of Ven- would entail.
to street protests and re- — not sabotage. a breakdown in critical ser- ezuelans struggle to under- With few details, it was diffi-
ceiving illicit funds from He urged Venezuelans to vices such as running water stand an announcement cult to assess how effective
abroad. take the streets until Madu- and public transportation. by Maduro a day earlier the plan would be in re-
Guaido dismissed the Mad- ro leaves power. Classes have been intermit- that the nation’s electricity storing a consistent supply
uro-stacked high court as “We must unite now more tently suspended for nearly is being rationed to com- of power in the long term.
illegitimate and continued than ever,” said Guaido at a week, while workdays bat daily blackouts. Some electricity experts
his calls for Maduro to step a Caracas university earlier tend to end in the early af- Maduro said late Sunday have also said there are no
down. He accused the so- Monday. “We must mount ternoon so millions aren’t that he was instituting a quick fixes to Venezuela’s
cialist leader of using the the biggest demonstration stranded due to cuts to the 30-day plan that would fragile power grid, present-
constant blackouts blan- so far to reject what’s hap- Caracas metro service. balance generation and ing the prospect that elec-
keting the country as politi- pening.” At the same time, frustrated transmission with consump- tricity could be shaky and
cal capital. The opposition Since a massive power residents are increasingly tion. He also called on Ven- unreliable for the foresee-
leader has said years of ne- failure struck March 7, the unable to find water, make ezuelans to stay calm, but able future. q

Guatemala: 2nd child dead in US custody had flu, infection

By SONIA PEREZ D. the poverty of their home led to multiple organ fail-
Associated Press village of Yalambojoch ure.
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — and crossed in the United “We have not been able to
An 8-year-old Guatemalan States on Dec. 18 at El Paso, establish where they were
boy who died while in cus- Texas. They were detained infected,” Padilla said of
tody of the U.S. border pa- the same day. Gomez and Caal. “We do
trol on Christmas Eve died The father has said that the not know if it was in Mexico
of the flu and a bacterial boy was in good health or in border custody. What
infection, authorities in the when they were taken into we know is that the children
Central American nation custody. left their homes healthy.”
said Monday. But days later he had flu Johana Samayoa, chief of
Oscar Padilla, Guatema- symptoms and was brought chronic infections at the
lan consul in Phoenix, Ari- to a hospital, where he Roosevelt Hospital in Gua-
zona, told The Associated died. temala, said these kinds of
Pres that a report on the Gomez was the second infections typically have an
autopsy of Felipe Gomez Guatemalan migrant child incubation period of eight
Alonzo was delivered in re- to die in U.S. custody in De- days and can be deadly
cent days and had found cember. if not treated, especially
he died from the infection An autopsy released Friday in combination with other
and “complications from on the other child, 7-year- factors such as malnutri-
influenza B.” old Jakelin Caal Maquin, tion.
The New Mexico Office of This Dec. 12, 2018 file photo provided by Catarina Gomez on found that her death Dec. In recent days U.S. Presi-
the Medical Investigator Thursday, Dec. 27, 2018, shows her stepbrother Felipe Gomez 8 was also due to bacterial dent Donald Trump has
said Monday that the re- Alonzo, 8, near her home in Yalambojoch, Guatemala. infection. said he will cut aid to Gua-
port is still open and has not Associated Press That report found bacteria temala as well as neighbor-
been finalized. for the flu based on swabs death requires further eval- in her lungs, liver, spleen ing El Salvador and Hondu-
The office previously report- of the lungs and nasal pas- uation.” and adrenal glands and ras over Central American
ed in a Dec. 27 statement sage, but that “determin- Gomez and his 47-year-old said she suffered a rapid, migration to the United
that the boy tested positive ing an accurate cause of father, Agustin Gomez, fled progressive infection that States.q